Anecdotes
by TheCastorbean
Summary: A series of anecdotes told by observers...
1. Bagdwella

Bagdwella did not think much of the Trollhunter when he was first chosen. How could a fleshbag boy, unable to catch a troublesome Gnome, be the great Trollhunter? It was laudable, everyone agreed. Draal was especially vocal, though who could blame him. The mantle was rightfully his, it was assumed by all that he would take it up after Kanjigar was felled, but this meaty fleshbag was chosen instead. An oversight, surely, just another Unkar the Unfortunate keeping Merlin's treasure warm for the next true champion.

But then the boy defeated Draal in combat. Bagdwella jeered with the others as the son of Kanjigar exited the ring in disgrace, honor forever tarnished by the fleshbag human's mercy. Refusal to finish the fight was a sign of weakness. Being unable to do whatever it takes to win will ultimately lead to defeat. Any Trollhunter worth his rocks knows that the amulet will always choose another. The most important thing is protecting Troll kind, anything else is secondary.

It was not until after Bular was defeated that Bagdwella sees Draal again. He is arm wrestling with AAAARRRGGG! Amid a celebration honoring the first human Trollhunter, who slew the son of Gunmar and prevented the Underlord from escaping the Darklands. The son of Kanjigar is missing an arm, and when questioned he confesses that he lost it in battle. Further prompting led to him admitting that he has been staying with the Trollhunter, guarding his home and helping him fight above ground. Having known Draal since he was small, Bagdwella was struck by the new light in his eyes, a wisdom and sense of purpose that was not there before. That was the first time she truly scrutinized the human Trollhunter, considering that he may be greater than they ever imagined.

Then came Angor Rot, the Trollhunter Assassin who disappeared decades ago, only to return thirsting for the human Trollhunter's blood. Not wanting to be part of the fight, Bagdwella barricaded herself in her shop and listened while chaos descended upon Heartstone Trollmarket. Later, she listened while customers described the battle. Golems made of pure crystal. Explosions leveling entire shops. The remains of felled Trolls littering the streets. As well as the human Trollhunter, who fought Angor Rot in the Heroes Forge and struck the final blow with the help of his allies.

Bagdwella had scoffed at the idea of a Trollhunter having allies until that battle. Stories of the human called Claire fighting off Golems with the shadow staph pilfered from Angor Rot himself, with Tobias swinging a fiery war hammer at her back. AAAARRRGGG! Hammering through the lines to redefine pacifism, while Blinkey, coward she always thought him, took a metal contraption to the Golems (crude, but effective, most shrugged).

Yet she had never been more thankful than when Tobias charged at one of Gunmar's soldiers, caving his helmet with a battle cry and reaching his hand out, insisting that she come. Usurna, the conniving hunk of clay, had allowed Gunmar into Heartstone Trollmarket. It was chaos worse than Angor Rot's, with Draal under his control and peaceful Trolls being turned into his minions. While fleeing the Heroes Forge, Bagdwella had witnessed children torn from their parents and dragged away by soldiers, seen the darkness overcoming the Heartstone, and felt the pure life ebbing out of the ground under her feet. When the soldier had cornered her, she had thought herself done for. But then there was Tobias, a fleshy hand helping her up and they were running. Skirting corners and upstairs, Bagdwella could hear nothing over the ring in her ears and the fear singing through her veins.

Then there was a door, a portal opened to the Gyre. Blinkey was at the wheel and he told her to hang on before they took off, ramming into the now-closed door. The six-eyed troll cursed before shouting to the Trollhunter, who was facing the sealed gateway with his sword drawn. They were trapped. Blinkey, AAARRRGGG!, Tobias, and the Trollhunter all took positions in front of the cracked doorway. Bagdwella went still, struck by a sudden realization. They were defending her. She and all the Trolls kept from the massacre happening outside. They had all been gathered to escape the wrath of Gunmar and now these humans were defending them.

Then the human Claire stepped onto the platform. The Trollhunter begged her not to do this, though nobody knew what it was until she raised her shadow staff. "You saved my brother, so now, I will save you" she said, the white of the staph being swallowed by black. "Tell my parents I love them."

The air exploded into a swirling vortex of purple, throwing the distressed Trollhunter onto his back. Bagdwella watched, transfixed, as a whirlwind formed around the girl. It took her off her feet, dark energy cracking her hands and spiderwebbing down her cheeks. Bagdwella had remembered admiring the color of Claire's eyes the few times they had spoken, a dark amber the likes of which she had never seen. But when she opened them now, they were pure black, with a spark of purple in the center. From somewhere far off Bagdwella heard the Trollhunter shout that it was killing her, and he shoved past several Trolls to make it up the stairs. The others followed, placing their hands on the shadow staph and contributing to ensure that Claire was not overwhelmed.

Bagdwella could feel the determination in the tendrils of shadow that wound around her waist. This human girl, she was risking her life to help them survive. They had allotted the human Trollhunter and his companions nothing but ridicule and they were risking their lives to save those who had mocked them. Then came the flash of light and a sudden sense of displacement as Bagdwella reoriented herself. It was a forest with what must have been at least a quarter of Heartstone Trollmarket's population hiding in the trees. Blinkey was their new leader, an honor bestowed upon him by the Trollhunter. All that Bagdwella could think as the others around her applauded was: _'Who would have thought?'_

They still needed shelter. They still needed to find a way to take back Heartstone Trollmarket because Bagdwella suddenly felt like fighting. She had always considered it the duty of the Trollhunter to take care of Troll kind. They were chosen to be martyrs, to take on the battle themselves so that Trolls could live in peace. But perhaps that way of thinking is false. This human Trollhunter has never battled alone, he is the most unorthodox Trollhunter to ever don the armor, yet his accomplishments verge on the impossible. Maybe a little change would be good, the old ways do not need to die, just…be tweaked a bit. If these puny fleshbags could fight against the likes of Gunmar, then Bagdwella could too.

With fire singing in her veins, fists clenched, and heart burning with anger over the loss of her home, Bagdwella feared, but she also hoped.


	2. Steve

When Steve had first laid eyes on Jim Lake, all that came to mind were the words _'fresh meat_._'_

Jim was a nerd. He was stringy and quiet and always hung out with that weird kid (Coby? Loby? Something like that). He also had a habit of speaking up whenever Steve stuffed another nerd into a locker. First rule about being top dog, your authority is _absolute_. Anybody who challenges that needs to be put back in their place, and Jim was one of the plucky few who dared to challenge. It was always easy to knock him back down to size; a quick shove was all it took for him to stay down. He would always let whatever geek bait Steve had stuffed into a locker out afterwards but was too chicken to pick a fight.

That is, until Jim hauled off and knocked Steve's tooth out. It was embarrassing and it only got worse from there. Suddenly, geeky little string bean Jim Lake was _everywhere_. Trying out for the school play. Going out with Claire Nuñez. Even running for Spring King! It was unacceptable. There was no way that Steve was giving up his throne for anyone, especially not a nobody like Jim Lake!

So, Steve worked to sabotage Jim and cut off his rise to fame before he got off the ground. It had seemed to be going well. Jim's sudden tendency to be absent helped. If it were not for that freak Vespa accident (which was totally Lake's fault! He was the one who ran Steve off the road!) then Steve would have won. But the Vespa accident knocked Steve from the role of Romeo and Claire went from being mad at Jim every other day to his second best friend. It was frustrating but hey, Steve got to be Spring King so he couldn't complain too much.

Then came the incident in the woods. Following Claire and Coby to disprove this stupid 'Jim Lake disorder' rumor that they were spreading around. Steve found Jim, even managed to call bull on his stupid cover story and get a sweet video of the great Jim Lake bowing to the awesomeness that is Steve Palchuk, before a waterfall opened out of thin air. The next thing Steve knew, he was waking up on a park bench and being chased around by a cop who thought he was on drugs.

If it weren't for the Creeper that he captured a few weeks later and a video he definitely does NOT remember taking of Coby on his phone, Steve would have written it off as a dream. But those things happened, and Steve ran to Pepperjack for help. Well, not exactly help, more confirmation. But who else was he supposed to ask about this thing? The little nerd bomb had been screaming about monsters for years now, and if anything qualified as a monster then this four-legged ball of green hatred did.

So, he brought it to Pepperjack, who confirmed it was a Creeper (as in things that Creep in the night). It then proceeded to communicate through an old toy that Jim was evil and needed to be destroyed. It was like all the pieces were coming together, my archrival out to destroy the world! Of course, only I had seen Jim for the evil fraud he actually was. Not surprising. One stake out at the Lake residence later confirmed it. Those huge hairy creatures in the basement screaming about battles and plans were a dead giveaway. We (Pepperjack and I) also managed to discover that their evil plan for world domination was set to go off that night. At some stupid rock exhibit in the museum.

So, the newly named Creepslayerz set off to defeat evil Jim and save the world.

Instead, they ended up defeating this weird gloop monster thing and finding out that Jim is actually the good guy. Steve lost ten bucks on that one but will never admit to being relieved. Monsters that you can see are way better than monsters disguised as people. It always made video games more complicated and Steve figured it would be no different here. Besides, it is nice to know that there's someone besides the Creepslayerz fighting these things. The glowing armor that Jim was sporting also seemed more effective than a baseball bat.

So, the Creepslayerz allied themselves with Jim Lake. Following him around was a pain, but it paid off when the call came in during an afternoon game of dodgeball. Jim was vague about the details but mentioned that 'they' would die if Steve didn't help. So, Steve grabbed Pepperjack and a ton of umbrellas, using them to help the Trolls (apparently that's what the big ones are called) cross a twenty-foot stretch of sunlight just past their escape route. Eventually the heard of Trolls made it across the divide, but there was no sign of Jim.

It is not like they could just leave a gaggle of unattended Trolls wandering around in the woods, so they parked it above the tunnel opening and waited. Took almost an hour, but Jim and the others appeared out of thin air ("I so knew that wasn't a dream!") with another group of Trolls. Then Jim, sporting the same armor Steve had seen him in when he was fighting that gloop thing in the bathroom, thanked them for the work. Pepperjack asked for payment in the form of an explanation and Jim promised to fill them in later.

Steve will never admit to being excited for that later. There were real live Trolls standing in front of him! He wasn't crazy! This had to be the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him, and to think it was all tied to this stringy nerd kid from his class. Oh well, never can tell about people.


End file.
